1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a wet floor wiping device comprising a mop made of absorbent material and a mop frame exhibiting a center carrier piece which is attached to a handle and to which two mop head wings are pivotably mounted by way of a hinge edge so that by way of a squeezing feature the two interior surfaces carrying the mop can be pressed one against the other.
2. Description of Related Art
When in their working position wet floor wiping devices of this type, which because of their two pivoted wings are also known as “butterfly mops,” form a flat mop carrier surface comprising the two mop carrier wings and the center carrier piece which joins them and to which a mop made of absorbent material is attached.
In this flat and level arrangement the mop can be passed over the floor surface to be cleaned, in full contact with the surface, whereby it picks up grime. Then the mop is again rinsed and squeezed out. To do so it is first necessary to submerge it, with the mop carrier wings swung downward from the center carrier piece, into a cleaning bucket containing cleaning water. Then the two mop carrier wings with their interior surfaces carrying the mop are pressed one against the other by way of a squeezing device, this in order to remove excess cleaning water from the mop before it is once again swung outward and placed on the floor surface to be cleaned.
In this flat and level arrangement the mop can be passed over the floor surface to be cleaned, in full contact with the surface, whereby it picks up grime. Then the mop is again rinsed and squeezed out, To do so it is first necessary to submerge it, with the mop carrier wings swung downward from the center carrier piece, into a cleaning bucket containing cleaning water. Then the two mop carrier wings with their interior surfaces carrying the mop are pressed one against the other by way of a squeezing device, this in order to remove excess cleaning water from the mop before it is once again swung outward and placed on the floor surface to be cleaned. cleaned.
The squeezing feature may, for example, comprise a lever mechanism which attached to the wet floor wiping device and which is actuated by hand in order to apply the required squeezing force. In all the known wet floor wiping devices of this kind (DE 42 22 948 A1) the mop carrier wings are rectangular in shape. The depth of the water in the cleaning bucket required to rinse the mop will have to be selected at a minimum so that the rectangular mop carrier wings which, for ergonomic reasons, are normally inserted into the cleaning bucket at an angle, are completely submerged in water. With rectangular mop carrier wings this minimum depth of the cleaning water is relatively great so that a relatively large quantity of water will have to be made available in the cleaning bucket, in turn rendering the cleaning bucket heavy.
The maximum force required to squeeze out the mop is determined essentially by the slewing moment required to swing the mop carrier wings at the end of their slewing motion. Here the surface areas which are the most distant from the pivot axis make the greatest contribution to squeezing moment since these most distant surface areas have the longest lever arms. Consequently it is necessary to provide a lever amplification feature in order to be able to apply the required squeezing moment at the end of the squeezing motion.